


Ten Days (Then Dawn Will Come)

by pianobookworm



Series: Day By Day (We'll Get Through This) [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Amnesia, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Finally!, Hopeful Ending, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 12:43:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7508746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pianobookworm/pseuds/pianobookworm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve tries to figure out what he's doing and where he and Darcy will go from here. Can they rebuild their relationship after what it's been through?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten Days (Then Dawn Will Come)

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my goodness you guys are amazing! Thank you so much for all your encouragement throughout this whole story--seriously, it would never have gotten done but for you.
> 
> I don't own Marvel, I just like playing with their characters.
> 
> Unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.

He had spent the rest of that day talking—with Darcy, and with others—and now it was the tenth day. Ten days since his and Darcy’s lives had completely changed. Ten days, and they had gone from no hope to a slight glimmer of light on the horizon, but they still had a long road to walk to make up for all the ground they had lost.

After he and Darcy had spent the rest of the meal talking (well, mostly Darcy talking while he listened), he had decided that she probably did not know about a certain significant piece of jewelry. However, that didn’t mean that the coast was clear. So he had spent the rest of the day researching what others knew about his and Darcy’s relationship.

It was strange, asking what other people knew about your love life, especially when they literally knew more than he did about the matter. Even the best of friends, no matter how well they know you, don’t always know what you’re thinking and feeling, and that meant that Steve would never get the whole story, no matter how much he searched.

He was beginning to regret never keeping a journal, although the sketchbooks almost made up for it. In those pages, he had seen a hundred different sides of this woman—every one of them beautiful, drawn with a loving hand. And every time he looked at them, a terrible sense of loss threatened to overwhelm him.

_But no, she’s not gone. Just those memories—those precious bits of time where we got to know each other._

It was hard. He would never get those moments back—but all that meant was that now he had to make new ones. New moments, rebuilding vanished structures to a new glory that would surpass the former, merely because of the hardship they had undergone.

But that would only happen if he had something to start with. So he went to his friends, eagerly trying to learn what he had done with Darcy, and what their relationship had been built upon.

Natasha had smiled wistfully when he has asked her what he and Darcy had been like.

_“There was something precious between you—a tender love, and a fierce protectiveness. It was obvious when you looked at her that she was the world to you; and she was incredulous but blissful.”_

That had worried him a bit… _incredulous? Darcy wasn’t sure that I loved her?_ If she had been that insecure then, maybe that had been part of the reason she hadn’t let anyone tell him anything. What if she feared that he would not want her back? He firmly resolved that in what they were now starting, he would do his best to comfort her fears. He may not remember Darcy, and how he had loved her, but he could tell that he had loved her—and he still felt an incredible stirring in his heart when he was around her.

He had also asked Natasha (discreetly, of course) if it had looked like they were moving toward a possible engagement?

She had hesitated for the briefest of moments, and then assured Steve that Darcy was unaware of his plans. However, he _had_ had plans. Which other people had been involved in. And that was part of the reason that no one would talk to him after the Incident, along with the fact that Darcy had asked them to keep the relationship a secret until she had been able to talk with him.

He had gone away from the conversation stunned and slightly overwhelmed, to say the least.

After those revelations, he hadn’t dared talk to Tony. He would do that later— _after_ he had been able to relearn his plans so Tony did _not_ know more about his planned proposal than he did.

So he had talked to Bucky, who had clapped him on the shoulder and grinned.

_“You were head over heels for her, punk. Anyone with eyes could see it, and maybe Helen Keller too!”_

Bucky had nodded sympathetically when Steve had asked him about the ring.

_“I know I was there, but I’m not at that place anymore. And I can’t do that to her, or myself. I don’t know her anymore—I have to rebuild a relationship that I don’t have any memory of, but she’ll have it all—what it used to be, what it will be, everything._

And he had asked Bucky for some important information, and some advice as well. So now he was standing outside the room where Darcy worked, waiting for her to appear.

* * *

Darcy was feeling happier this morning than she had for the last ten days. However, she couldn’t still the niggling doubt in her mind.

_What if he doesn’t really want me back? What if he’s just doing this because he feels obligated to? What if, what if, whatif whatif whatif…_

Deliberately forcing herself to stop thinking that way, she slowly took a breath.

_No. I shouldn’t think that way. Whatever happens, I know that Steve did love me—and that’s what caused this whole mess…No no no_

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she made her way out to her ‘observing spot’. There was a large window, and a couch with a lovely view of the hustle and bustle—both inside and outside the Tower. She would sit there, when she needed to catch a breath and/or fancy herself above it all.

However, before she made it there, she was confronted with the sight of Steve, an iris in his hand and a nervous expression on his face.

Before she could ask anything, he was standing in front of her with purposeful (if nervous) intent in his eyes.

“Darcy?” he began hesitantly, but continued before she could say anything, “I know that we’ve spent a lot of time together, getting to know each other. But those days are gone. For me it’s as if they never happened.”

She stiffened, wondering where he was taking this. However, he kept going. “I don’t want to just pretend nothing ever happened in the first place. I want what I had back. But I can’t just pretend that I can remember it—pretend the Incident never happened. That isn’t fair to me, or to you. I want to begin this properly, the same way it started in the first place. So, Darcy,” he asked, holding out the iris invitingly, “Would you come to coffee with me?”

And she looked at the iris—the flower of hope and valor—and smiled at him. “Yes. Yes, I would,” she said.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, here we are. I may end up writing some more bits and pieces that go along with this-either set before, or after, or from different people's POV, but for all intents and purposes, this is the end of the story. I hope you guys have enjoyed the ride- I know I have! You guys are the greatest!


End file.
